TVTA Christmas selection box 2019

Wishing all our vintage mates love, light, peace and happiness for the holiday!

Wooof and I and the rest of The Vintage Toy Advertiser team are all set for Christmas! Picture the scene – the fire is lit and roaring; the gramophone is playing Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt; brightly wrapped presents sit under the tree; Mrs Coldkettle the tea lady is dressed as an angel and has made a giant Christmas pudding full of vintage toys and little capsules of Baileys Irish Cream; Allesandro the pigeon who lives on our roof has hired a Hollywood snow machine to gently drop snow flakes past our window; Wooof is dressed as Charles Dickens and is busy reading us gruesome and spine-tingling Christmas horror tales by the light of his Hello Kitty lantern; and me, I’m dressed as a Christmas candle burning at both ends. But don’t worry, vintage mates, everyone at TVTA will for sure get Christmas day off – I certainly don’t want the staff sending not one but two ghosts to haunt the bycrikeyallmighty out of me like they did last year! Lesson learned.

Happy holiday folks. Sincere thanks to everyone who’s joined in the fun with us this year. It’s been a blast!

TVTA Christmas selection box 2018

Christmas with the superheroes. 1989. US.

Merry Christmas vintage mates! Wishing you all love, peace, happiness, creativity and much success in 2019!

I hope you get lots of toys!!!

Lots and lots of toys!

Lots and lots and lots of toys!


… hey, who snuck a Santa skelly into the gallery above?

… Wooof?

No worries, back to the toys… where were we? Yes, hope you get lots of toys!!

… toys and toys and toys!!

… toys, toys, toys, toys, toys and toys!!!


And finally… batteries required?

No worries, TVTA has you covered!


As always, thanks for looking  🙂

TVTA Christmas selection box 2016

Here’s wishing everyone a very merry Christmas, peace, love and much success! This year has been good for TVTA – I’ve made many new friends both here at the blog and on its sister site over at Twitter. I’m looking forward to seeing all your posts and pics and catching up again in the New Year!

I can’t promise any chocolates inside this year’s TVTA Christmas selection box but there is a delicious assortment of international-flavoured toy ads typical of what children in the 70s and 80s may have woken up to on Christmas morning.

As always, thanks for looking  🙂


Evel Knievel – 1974, USA

US. The exciting adventures of Evel Knievel. Weird Mystery Tales. 1974.

US. Weird Mystery Tales. 1974.


Bionic Man – 1976, USA

US. The Twilight Zone. 1976.

US. The Twilight Zone. 1976.


Bionic Woman – 1977, USA

US. Richie Rich. 1977.

US. Richie Rich. 1977.


Playmobil – 1979, Italy

Italy. Topolino. 1979.

Italy. Topolino. 1979.


Barbie – 1978, Italy

Italy. Topolino. 1978.

Italy. Topolino. 1978.


Make-up and hair Doll – 1979, France

France. Pif Gadget. 1979.

France. Pif Gadget. 1979.


Star Wars – 1978, UK

UK. Star Wars Weekly. 1978.


Action Man – 1980, UK

action-man-catalogue-c


Buckaroo – 1981, France

France. Pif Gadget. 1981.

France. Pif Gadget. 1981.


Raleigh BMX Burner – 1983, France

France. Pif Gadget. 1983.

France. Pif Gadget. 1983.


Masters Of The Universe – 1984, Denmark

Denmark. Anders And & Co. 1984.

Denmark. Anders And & Co. 1984.


Atari – 1984, Brazil

Brazil. Cebolinha. 1984.

Brazil. Cebolinha. 1984.


Ghostbusters Computer Game – 1985, USA

US. Tales of the Teen Titans. 1985.

US. Tales of the Teen Titans. 1985.


Star Wars, Return Of The Jedi – 1985, Germany.

Germany. Star Wars N° 2. 1985. No slave Leia figure in 1985, so Luke was chained up by Jabba instead!

Germany. Star Wars N° 2. 1985.


Tomy Super Cup Football – 1988, France.

France. PIf Gadget. 1988.

France. PIf Gadget. 1988.


And finally…

I couldn’t go without showing an annual or two…

UK. Grandreams. 1981.

UK. Grandreams. 1981.


UK. Marvel. 1979.

UK. Marvel. 1979.


And how about this… I’ve no idea of the date, but it’s a vintage advent calendar that came with some recent paperwork. As you can see, it’s a no-nonsense traditional effort without any need to give away chocolates or sweets behind its doors, and was probably intended to be kept for successive Christmas day countdowns – which is perhaps why it has survived this long.

Doors closed…

vintage-advent-calendar-a

Doors opened…

The little scenes come alive with light when placed against the window.

vintage-advent-calendar

Merry Christmas!